Canadian Immigration sharing will expand to the Five Eyes

21-02-2014

Canada’s immigration objective is to broaden the sharing of immigration information with the U.S and other central allies.The government is building an information technology system, which can be used for the exchange of biometric data such as fingerprints and iris scans.

Systematic sharing is a better and more efficient way to oversee case-by-case sharing. Canadian federal government has already been sharing immigration information for security purposes with the United States under the perimeter security pact. Due to former intelligent leaks from an American spy contractor, Edward Snowden, there has been surveillance on Canada’s security relationship with its close allies. Known as the Five Eyes, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States are all under the umbrella of the Five Country Conference.

Starting this year, fingerprints from Visa applicants to Canada from all over will be checked up against a system that contains immigration violators, criminals and suspected terrorists. Although the hope is to lead to more transparency and safety in immigration, the concern that the volume of information being sent oversees may not be able to be kept under control.

A protocol launched in 2009 has allowed for 3,000 fingerprints to be shared annually with each member state. Canadian immigration plans to raise this amount to 12,000 by fall of this year.

Although the new arrangement with the U.S is very important, Canada is creating a systematic sharing method that will support sharing with the other members of the Five Eyes as well. The main concern that exists is that once information is sent beyond Canadian borders, immigration information may be altered. Therefore, it is important for Citizenship and Immigration to use precise and pertinent information as determining factors in making concluding decisions.

FWCanada is a Montreal-based immigration law firm that provides professional legal services on Canadian immigration. For more tips and updates on Canadian immigration follow FWCanada on Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin.